BritCits

Brian

“ I won’t give up and will move to Ireland if that’s the only way I can be with my family.”

Brian is a British citizen. He is 70 years old and retired.

Brian is also married to a Brazilian woman – they knew each other for a year before getting married nearly a year and a half ago.

As almost every single married couple does, this couple too wishes to live together. As Brian needs to be in the UK – with 4 children and 10 grandchildren here, this isn’t surprising - he wishes to settle in the UK, with his wife.

However, the Secretary of State does not see it that way. Brian’s wife’s application for leave to remain was refused, with the advice they received from the government being that there was no reason why the couple could not carry on with their family life in Brazil.

Brian’s wife would have qualified under the pre-July 2012 rules, increasingly being dubbed inhumane, unfair and xenophobic.

Brian will not give up, however is considering exercising his treaty rights as an EU citizen to ensure his family is now broken up – which would mean coming out of retirement and finding a job in another EU/EEA country, just to be able to one day, return home. At any age, but especially his, he shouldn’t have to fight for his right to live with his own family, in his own country.

Putting a 70 year old in a situation where he has to come out of retirement, move countries and prove his right to be with his wife is something worthy of politicians hanging their heads in shame.

‘No free man shall be arrested, imprisoned,  dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or in any way victimised, or attacked except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land' - Magna Carta.